under another sun

The morning lurking about with Mum, chatting and eating toast and jam and then making off to the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. There are two rooms full of work by women artists, and we looked at these quite carefully.  A piece by Alison Smith, who seems to be little known, which made us feel a woozy with its strange perspective and unsettling air. Then off to have another mooch about by the sea and thread through the streets and the park. Eventually we had a snack at Délice in the North Laine before we lunged off to the station. Mum had a soup and a hot ginger beer. Sad to see mum go off this afternoon. Then for me off to Sainsbury's, then some tiresome house-related admin and a bit of work on the book. A quiet night in eating fish, steamed vegetables and brown rice with my Lorraine. Below Country Sunday c 1934  by Alison Smith whose dates are unknown. Looking at it with Mum made me curious to know more about her but a google search reveals little.

Up early and feeling better than I have done this week, although in a tetchy mood. Took myself out and about in town. Worked in a cafe for three hours. Across the road is a large plastic shark head, of which there are a couple in Brighton. Looking up from my laptop to sip my large Earl Grey teas, amused at one point to see two women taking photos of themselves with their heads wedged in the shark jaws. Having put in a couple of hours on the business book early morning, I started a new poem in the cafe. I am trying to be less self-censoring in what I write and give my subconscious freer reign. A slightly wilder and less restrained streak is coming to the fore. The poem sparked off by two words in the André Breton book I was reading the other day. Happy to be walking about with some energy after a poor start to the week. Visited the Brighton Gallery again, and closely looked at the Léger Two Figures (1929) they have there. I particularly liked Leger when I was doing my art A level in...

July and the drought continues. Today the rain relented only for an hour or so, and Toby and Romy set off among the bedraggled denizens of Brighton. I joined them later at the Marwood for a cup of coffee, and then, taking advantage of a slight brightening of the clouds we scurried onto Brighton Pier where it began to rain again. Romy said that it reminded her of places in Japan. Then off to The Giggling Squid for a pleasant lunch.  It has been wonderful to spend a couple of days talking to Toby and Romy. Then rain dodging through the lush Pavilion Gardens to the Brighton Museum. Am really beginning to warm to its eclectic collection, we spent some time happily drifting in there. On the way home, Toby suggested we go into St Bartholomew's Church , which I'd never been to before, despite its huge and austere brick presence in the New England quarter. It has an extraordinarily lofty interior, making you feel ant-like (in a pleasant, spiritually-uplifting way) as you walk in. ...